Whos having a sunday or friday wedding?

Im curious.. I love the thought of discounts for not having a saturday wedding.. What are your thoughts of having a sunday or friday wedding or V.S. ?

Our wedding date will either be 5.5.13 (sunday) or 5.3.13 (friday) whats your thoughts? And if you had either or planning to please tell me your experince! Any regrets?

I know for sunday receptions people wont stay long. But we will have alot of out of towners. So wont matter as much and ones that dont stay thats fine with me... cause the ones that mean the most will!!!

Im urious for those have had a sunday or friday wedding where did u decide to have your reception? and why? Im looking for idea!!!! Thanks so much

Re: Whos having a sunday or friday wedding?

My wedding was on a Sunday at the Historic Courthouse in Stillwater back in October. The date (10-10-10) was something we really wanted, and it being a Sunday was an unintended budgetary perk (hmm... save a thousand bucks?! Don't mind if I do!)

It's not that people won't stay long for your reception, they just won't stay late... so really all you have to do is shift things a couple hours earlier so that people don't feel cheated out of a good time if they have to leave by 9 or 10pm. We had a mid-afternoon ceremony and an early (4:45ish) dinner. Lots of people left by 8pm, but the wedding party and the OOTers all stayed until about midnight.

Friday weddings seem too rushed to me. I've only been to one, and that, I didn't even make it in time for the ceremony (and I hate to skip ceremonies!) because I couldn't get there in time after work.

Honestly, we kind of just fell into it, since the reception venue, the Elm Creek Park Chalet, was all booked for the Saturday's in September, except for Labor Day weekend. We really wanted a fall wedding & due to the fact that we both bowhunt, we didn't want to push into October.

I love the fact that we're having a Friday wedding & I've heard from many guests that they really like the idea of a Friday wedding, so then they still have the weekend.

I don't have any regrets that we're doing a Friday wedding, but something to keep in mind is time. We're having a Catholic ceremony, without a full mass, but it's still going to take 45 minutes. We've had to cut out the receiving line, due to time constraints & we might not be able to do pictures in between the ceremony & reception outside, due to time. Our dinner is going to be late, at 7:00 pm. But we are going to have food, to tide people over before we get there. Our actual reception is only going to be about 3-3 1/2 hours, because we have to have our reception venue picked up & everyone has to be out by midnight. If one person is still there, we have to pay extra.

It obviously would be different for you, depending on what type of ceremony you have & where your reception is, but it's definitely something to keep in mind, when you're deciding!

I am having a Friday wedding as well. It saved us 2k. We're having a later ceremony, which is fine because we are just doing all of the pictures before hand. And it actually worked out better for a Friday wedding that weekend for FI's family and friends because they are from a small town and attend every graduation, and graudation is that Sunday after the wedding, so if we had chosen that Saturday, a lot of our guests wouldn't have been able to come.

I am having an evening ceremony/reception on a Friday next January. It will be at the Landmark Center. We will probably be starting the ceremony around 7 or 730, so that people will have time to get off work, etc. Many of our guests are OOT so most will probably take the majority of the day off anyway. It didn’t save us any money for the venue rental, but it was the only date in January that was open for the Landmark Center and we really wanted it. I think we will save a bit for the catering and other vendors though. We are having small food stations and lots of desserts instead of a dinner though.

We're getting married on a Sunday afternoon (big discounts all around!) this coming July - at the Eagan CC. The ceremony will be outside (hopefully) and the reception inside, but we're having lawn games and keeping the reception decor very simple. We're not having a dance, but will have music playing; not having a meal, but serving cake and ice cream sundaes. Very simple and fun. The ceremony is at 3 with the reception right after, and I'm not expecting people to stay later than like 7.

I'm a little worried about the fact that we have church that morning so we won't have helpers (from our families) until around lunchtime. I'm assuming my MOH and I will be skipping church to get our hair done, etc. I can't handle tons of people for a long period of time though, so I'm fne with it being short and simple. We're still having two bridal showers, our bach parties, and a small reception at church, so I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything!

I'm having a Sunday wedding - 5.29.11. It's Sunday of Memorial Day weekend (which I know some people think is a no-no). It works well for us, though, because a lot of guests are from out of town and will have Monday off. I'm hoping that people will still be able to stay relatively late. We're having a small wedding of about 50 people at 5120 in Bloomington. Gorgeous venue, but quite small. Having it on a Sunday saves us quite a bit of money for food/beverage minimum. I'd definitely recommend it.

I should list what are 'plans' are. FI family is super catholic although we are not super religous. Id be fine having it outside or at the reception. Im unsure if any churches can even do a wedding. So hoping FI parents wont care ( but have a feeling they might) if we had to or have time for it. It would be very short. NO mass. Im thinking no longer then 1 hr. And we plan to have a plated dinner for the reception. And thinking we will have between 200-300 people.. eek! Not looking forward too. Also im leaning more toward sunday because thats my first pick.. but my 2nd pick wouls be friday if we had too. .

We will also have all the dances at our reception. We are pretty traditional people. we looked at a couple venues.. still unsure of more so looking for any ideas!!!

In Response to Re: Whos having a sunday or friday wedding?:
[QUOTE] I am having an evening ceremony/reception on a Friday next January. It will be at the Landmark Center. We will probably be starting the ceremony around 7 or 730, so that people will have time to get off work, etc. Many of our guests are OOT so most will probably take the majority of the day off anyway. It didn’t save us any money for the venue rental, but it was the only date in January that was open for the Landmark Center and we really wanted it. I think we will save a bit for the catering and other vendors though. We are having small food stations and lots of desserts instead of a dinner though.
Posted by musicalsunlight[/QUOTE]

Hmmm.. Musu, you've got me thinking now...

What kind of food stations are you having? After I wrote out all the stuff above, I really realized how time crunched we are! And then read your post, I realized it might just be easier for us to do it that way! Also, what time do you have to be out of your reception site?

I'm intrigued now... Michael is going to kill me, when I tell him this idea!

We got married on a Sunday. I think it depends what you're going for as far as a 'vibe.' If you want a super fancy, formal wedding, I'd stay away from a Sunday wedding. Unless it's a holiday weekend (which I tend to hate for weddings anyway), you'll want it to be done earlier than normal. I'd say you should end the reception by 10pm at the latest. Our ceremony was at 12:30, reception at 2, and most people were gone by 5-6ish. (We didn't have a 'formal' dance, though. We had a DJ who played a few songs as people requested, but it was mostly just mingling and hanging out. Exactly what we wanted!)

If you do a Friday wedding, you really shouldn't start the ceremony before 7, to give people time to leave work, change, and get to the ceremony.

We had a Sunday wedding. We actually did everything just like a "normal" Saturday wedding. We had a pretty big, formal wedding. The ceremony was at 4:30, followed by a appetizer/cocktail hour, then dinner at 6:30ish I think (can't remember haha), and finally the dance and photobooth. People with kids and that were traveling far left around 8 o'clock but a lot of people stayed until 10 or so because we had an open bar all night (which we wouldn't have been able to afford had we done a Saturday wedding).

I agree with pp that Friday weddings feel rushed unless you do them later, like 630-7ish. I went to a wedding once that started at 5:30 and only about 1/2 of the guests were at the ceremony, they all just joined afterwards at the dinner.

We probably saved around $5k by having a Sunday wedding so it worked out great for us. Plus I loved having Saturday to do extra things/relax a little, or if you chose to do your rehearsal dinner on Saturday, you could save a lot of money by doing a lunch instead of dinnner.

"All that I'm after is a life full of laughter, As long as I'm laughing with you"
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I am a bridesmaid in my cousin's wedding tomorrow night at 5:00 PM actually. This will be the first wedding I've been to that wasn't on a Saturday so I don't have much of an opinion of it yet, but I know it's growing more common.

With a Friday night wedding obviously if you start it before 6:00 or 6:30, you're obviously going to have to ask all of your guests to leave work early, which isn't a huge deal for most people but some people might have jobs that it's not that easy. And if you start at 6 or 7 then you will run in to time constraints. Also one of my friends who got married on a Friday (I beleive her ceremony started at 6:00) said that people were arriving late due to rush hour traffic, so they were walking in finding seats as the WP was walking down the aisle. So choose your time wisely if you do a Friday.

I am doing a Friday wedding. We chose it only because all of the Saturdays were booked up. At the end of the day though people are really excited about it and happy with the choice. Since we are doing the wedding up north people are going to stay through Sunday with the families. It has turned into a big family reunion.

I think Fridays are getting to be pretty popular so it seemed to me like you get the best discounts on Sunday - Thursday still. Friday you get some discounts but the room rates are still higher than Sunday night.

In Response to Re: Whos having a sunday or friday wedding?:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Whos having a sunday or friday wedding? : Hmmm.. Musu, you've got me thinking now... What kind of food stations are you having? After I wrote out all the stuff above, I really realized how time crunched we are! And then read your post, I realized it might just be easier for us to do it that way! Also, what time do you have to be out of your reception site? I'm intrigued now... Michael is going to kill me, when I tell him this idea!
Posted by MikeNAndi[/QUOTE]

Yeah, we are planning on doing a big lunch type thing with the WP members (probably split up between girls & guys so we don't see each other before pictures) so that we aren't starving, and then do photos in the afternoon before the ceremony-- haven't really nailed down the details yet because we are still figuring all of that out.

Since our ceremony & reception are gonna be in the same room, we are skipping paying for the $750 or so ceremony "changeover" fee, and having guests sit at their tables for the ceremony. We are doing some kind of tenderloin food station and then either a mashed potato bar OR gourmet mac n cheese station (we can only afford two). Starchy enough food to be filling. ;) For a fall wedding there are probably other foods that might intrigue you more, but comfort food works in fall too ;) We are also probably gonna do some kind of veggie tray type thing too. We are gonna do between 2-3 desserts because were viewing it mainly as a "dessert" reception. We are thinking 7 for ceremony, then start food around 8, and then serve desserts at 9 so that if people want to leave early they still have time for a few desserts before leaving. I think we are supposed to be out by maybe 1am? I'm not really sure TBH. Either way, it still leaves us tons of time for dancing, etc. HTH! :)

ETA: The biggest reason we did the stations for food is it will save time (people don't need to be served huge dinners which take at LEAST an hour) AND save money (a few stations & desserts is so much cheaper!)

I had a Friday wedding but I didn't pick it! DH and my Mom booked our ceremony location and time (Como Conservatory) months before DH even proposed to me because things were booking fast. We had a small private ceremony and big reception immediately after with our videographer presenting a very condensed video of our ceremony as our introduction to the reception crew. We didn't have dinner until 7 and then ran until midnight. Still had probably 50 people out of 200 at the end.

If you want to do a full ceremony, you almost have to start late - like 6 or later - so that in town people can get there on time. I attended 2 Friday weddings last year and after arriving to the church at the same time as the bridal party walking in at the first one, we said screw it for the next one and just went to the reception instead.

I've been to one sunday wedding and it was totally not my thing. They wanted to do a very traditional ceremony and reception but I had to leave by 10 so I could get up and be at work at 7 the next day. I felt bad but I wasn't about to be a zombie the next day or take off time for it.

We got lots of perks for a Friday wedding in October '09 but I think that they're starting to disappear now because Fridays are becoming more common.

We are doing a Friday wedding also. 10.21.11. Our ceremony is going to start @ 6:30. I don't think we will be doing a receiving line either because of time constraints. I actually think FI and I will greet guests as they come in (something different) instead of the receiving line. Still undecided on this though. Reception will start right after the ceremony (located 20-25 min from ceremony site). We are doing food stations also. Carved meat for people to make sandwiches, mashed potato bar, fruit and veggie tray. We saved $3,000 by not doing a plated meal. Our dance will also only be about 3 hours long since it's a Friday night wedding. We have to be out by midnight.

In Response to Re: Whos having a sunday or friday wedding?:
[QUOTE]maybe- was ur cereomony at the Historic Courthouse in Stillwater also? Or did u have it at a church or something else? Tanks for all your input! I love the thought of saving so much money also!!!
Posted by FutureMrsS13[/QUOTE]

Yes, our ceremony and reception were both at the Historic Courthouse. Our outdoor ceremony was between 2 and 3pm (it didn't take a full hour but I don't remember when we officially started, I think we waited 15 min because a lot of guests were showing up late.) We then did a receiving line as the guests entered the building, let them have some drinks and mingle while we took pictures... and then dinner was served a tad before 5pm.

If I could do it all over again, I would have scheduled the ceremony to start at 3pm. With both being at a single venue, we had WAY too much time. We finished our pictures by about 4:15, and had our grand entrance about a half hour before the food was even ready. The guests totally didn't think anything of it, but I felt uber odd.

In Response to Re: Whos having a sunday or friday wedding?:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Whos having a sunday or friday wedding? : Yes, our ceremony and reception were both at the Historic Courthouse. Our outdoor ceremony was between 2 and 3pm (it didn't take a full hour but I don't remember when we officially started, I think we waited 15 min because a lot of guests were showing up late.) We then did a receiving line as the guests entered the building, let them have some drinks and mingle while we took pictures... and then dinner was served a tad before 5pm. If I could do it all over again, I would have scheduled the ceremony to start at 3pm. With both being at a single venue, we had WAY too much time. We finished our pictures by about 4:15, and had our grand entrance about a half hour before the food was even ready. The guests totally didn't think anything of it, but I felt uber odd.
Posted by maybe984[/QUOTE]
Im loving this thought. Very cool!. what time did you have to be done with ur reception?

In Response to Re: Whos having a sunday or friday wedding?:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Whos having a sunday or friday wedding? : Im loving this thought. Very cool!. what time did you have to be done with ur reception?
Posted by FutureMrsS13[/QUOTE]

Well, with the Courthouse, as I recall, the deadlines are the same regardless of which day of the week it is. You have to stop serving booze at 11pm, stop the music by 11:30, end the event by midnight, and be totally cleared out by 1am. As I recall, we served drinks right up until 11pm, but otherwise we ran anywhere from 30-45 minutes ahead of that schedule on each individual item.

I'd say it was probably about 10:00 that the reception got suuuper quiet. My parents took a lot of the older OOT guests back to the hotel, most of the in-towners had left for home.. and it was basically, me, DH, his parents, our wedding party, and a few local-ish families that cut out of work/school the next day and didn't have anything better to do ;-)

We're getting married on a Sunday and we did save some money and were also able to hire all the vendors we wanted with no scheduling conflicts. We're having a 3pm ceremony and seating for dinner at 4:45. No one with little kids will need to leave early and we're hoping people will stick around for a while. Our OOT guests will stay and we'll enjoy ourselves late into the night!

We are doing a Friday wedding - my fi wanted 11/11/11 and that happened to fall on a Friday... So Friday it is! But I am LOVING the idea of a Friday wedding now that i'm in the planning. First of all, it's so much cheaper for the rental of both our ceremony location (a church) and the reception location (Rockwoods in Otsego). A lot of places have lower minimums, but a lot have lower rental fees as well. You probably won't find a whole lot of other things that will be less money though... But I also like the Friday becuase you still have the whole weekend. Saturday for the gift opening etc, and Sunday to recover. Plus, i've heard Friday weddings actually get a better turn out! We want everyone to come, and we want a big party, and Friday is our best option for that... Yes, if you have the ceremony early, you may have some people miss... But to be honest, that's okay by me. I'd rather have a small turn out to the ceremony, and a larger turn out for the reception.

To be honest, I personally don't like the idea of a Sunday wedding. If I was invited to one, I probably wouldn't go... Or if I did, I definately wouldn't stay late. So if you are looking for a big reception, i'd say go Friday instead. But if you are looking for a day/outdoor wedding, and the reception isn't as important, maybe Sunday is the better choice.